


I Don't Need Help

by Spuffyfan394



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:02:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26408434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spuffyfan394/pseuds/Spuffyfan394
Summary: After the war is over Draco and Hermione  have become healers.  Hermione notices something off about him. (This is a friendship story, I tried to stay as in character as possible.)
Relationships: Hermione Granger & Draco Malfoy
Kudos: 4





	I Don't Need Help

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first (And only) Harry Potter story.

After the war was over Draco went back to Hogwarts to finish his Seventh Year. He was one of the few students who did. Of the students that did return he had the highest N.E.W.T.s apart from Hermione. After seeing what happened to many of the people during the war, and what the other Death Eaters had done or been commanded to do, he decided he didn't want to be a cause of it anymore. Draco changed his behavior towards the student and teachers. He knew one year didn't make much of a difference but he didn't want to be known as Lucius' son, the spoiled brat and a Death Eater. He didn't even want to be a Death Eater to begin with. Over the past 6 years he was too busy being a snob to pay much attention to classes so over the last year he quickly realized he was more adapt at potions, charms and defense against the dark arts than he had thought.

Now, five years later, he had become the top Healer at St. Mungo's. He worked mainly on the Fourth Floor: Spell Damage, but he knew enough of the other department that he could help with any of the patients on the other floors. Draco had just finished healing a patient on the first floor when he noticed a woman walking towards him. Almost immediately he recognized her, she had the same bushy brunette hair. He also noticed she was limping.

"What happened?"

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"You came down here for a reason, Granger, what happened."

"One of my patients has wounds that look like a ghoul attacked her, but I can't be sure."

"That still doesn't explain why you are limping."

Hermione rolled her eyes and started back towards the stairs leading up to the first floor. Hermione led Draco over to the bed the patient was in.

"Sophie, this is my colleague, Draco."

"I don't want him treating me."

"Sophie, I can't treat your injuries by myself I need his help, he knows the more complicated spells I need."

"I am not letting him help; no Malfoy is going to help me."

Draco had to fight not to roll his eyes, he was use to this reaction from patients, at first he wanted a reason but every patient gave the same reason, because he was a Malfoy.

"Mrs. Miller if you want to be healed you have to let me help."

"No, your family murdered my sister, I won't let you touch me."

Sophie picked up a book Hermione had left on the bedside table and threw it emphasizing she wanted him to leave. He didn't duck, because if he did the book could hit someone else, so the book hit his in the chest. He caught the book before it hit the ground, and schooled his expression so it didn't show if the impact hurt or not.

"Draco, are you alright?"

"Fine."

"Why do you care, he's a Malfoy, his family fought against you in the war, he fought against you in the war, he's a Death Eater!"

"His name may be Malfoy, but that doesn't mean he's a bad person. Yes, he fought against me in the war only because that's what his parents wanted him to do, the same goes with becoming a Death Eater."

"You believe all that? I suppose you're going to tell me he didn't kill that man who came in a month ago for a crup bite, that there was something else that killed him."

Draco couldn't help but cringe at the accusation, the man came in for a crup bite but upon looking closer Draco had found that the wound was severely infected. The infection was as he soon found out an anti-potion stain of infection. There was no way to cure the infection so the only thing he could do was give the patient pain potions and keep him comfortable. The case made the Daily Prophet. And Rita Skeeter speculated that Draco might have killed him. Draco thought that after the issue was published his career as a Healer was ruined. Many of the patients were reluctant to see him but after they were told he was the best Healer they were more open to the idea. Sophie wasn't one of them of course.

Draco walked out of the room and Hermione followed.

"Are you sure you're alright, Malfoy?"

"Fine, Granger, it's not the first time dealing with someone who hates me."

"Alright."

Hermione walked back into the patient's room and Draco decided to head to the break room. He walked over and poured himself a cup of coffee, he didn't notice till now (he had been so busy with patients he didn't have time to worry about himself) but he was more tired than normal. He figured it was the late nights catching up with him.

Awhile later Hermione walked into the break room.

"How's the patient?"

"She's calmed, I'm sorry about that, I had no idea she'd act like that towards you."

He looked at her.

"It's alright, I'm used to it."

Hermione didn't say anything to that and Draco didn't expect her to. He didn't expect her to say he didn't deserve it because the truth was he did, he couldn't stand up to his parents and this was his punishment. Hermione got her coffee and sat in the chair opposite him.

"Malfoy, are you sure you're alright?"

"I told you I'm fine, quit asking."

They finished their coffee in silence and Hermione went to check on Sophie. Draco got up to go back to the fourth floor but almost as soon as he did he was struck by a wave of dizziness. He gripped the chair he had previously occupied. The spell ended and headed to the Fourth floor. He thought nothing of the incident for the rest of the day. After his shift he headed back to his apartment and went to bed.

Over the next few weeks nothing out of the ordinary happened, after Draco taught Hermione the spells she needed, Hermione was able to heal Sophie and sent her home. Draco didn't notice how much he had scratched his right arm until he caught himself doing it and looked at his arm. The skin on that arm was raw from him scratching it so much.

Before he left his apartment he wrapped that part of his arm is gauze so he wouldn't be tempted to scratch it and make it worse. Then he apparated right outside St Mungo's and headed inside. Draco headed up to the fourth floor and started seeing patients. He didn't take a break till around lunch time and when he walked into the break room he noticed Hermione sitting at the table. He grabbed his food out of the fridge and sat down across from her. He started to eat and she looked up from her book.

"Haven't seen you here in a while Draco."

"Been eating lunch later, patients seem to take up more of my time."

She nodded.

"Are you alright, you seem unusually-"

Before she got the chance to finish her sentence an alarm went off alerting several of the Healers that they were needed in the Trauma bay on the fourth floor. They headed down to the trauma bay but before they can get to the fourth floor Hermione noticed Draco had stopped, she turned around and looked at him. He was leaning against one of the walls.

"Draco, are you alright?"

"Fine."

"You're lying again. You don't look fine."

Then she noticed his arm.

"What happened to your arm, it's bleeding."

Draco looked down at his arm and noticed that his white shirt sleeve was covered in blood. Before Draco had the chance to do anything, Hermione unbuttoned the sleeve and pulled it up to reveal the bandage. She unwrapped the bandage and gasp at the sight she saw. The skin was still bleeding and it looked infected.

"Draco what happened?"

"It's none of your business Hermione."

"Fine. Suit yourself. Forget I even cared."

Draco quickly realized the mistake he made but before he had a chance to say anything to her everything went black. Hermione moved forward to stop him from hitting his head and doing more damage. She slowly lowered him to the ground.

After she put his head in her lap, she accioed a stretcher. Hermione levitated Draco onto it and headed to the Fourth floor. She had noticed something was off with him a few days ago but didn't say anything. Hermione had seen how he tended to favor his left arm and so she started to wonder if it had something to do with the Dark Mark. That maybe Voldemort had put a curse on the mark so if he died something would happen. When she got to the fourth floor her suspicions were confirmed and she realized that the alarm had only gone off to tell her and Draco to go to the fourth floor. She then quickly realized why, the person they had been called to help was an ex-Death Eater.

After Hermione levitated Draco off the stretcher and onto one of the empty beds. She walked over to the other patients bed and realized he had the same symptoms as Draco. She quickly bandaged the Ex-Death Eater's arm and deciding that was good enough for now and went to help Draco. Hermione walked back over to Draco. She quickly bandaged his arm and then cast a diagnostic spell.

Hermione picked up the paper and read it as the writing appeared from the spell. She noted that it said Draco had a fever and indeed had an infection on his left arm. She tried the spell that they used on mild infections but it didn't seem to have an effect. That meant that either the infection was too bad for a spell to help or it was spell resistant. Hermione then conjured a fever reducer. She spelled into his system seeing as he was still unconscious.

Hermione walked over to the other patient, she could tell his arm had stopped bleeding so she unwrapped the bandages and noted that it was infected as well, though it didn't seem to be as bad. The man must have come in early into the infection and possible disease. Hermione cast the spell that would help the clear the infection. It worked, the infection vanished. Draco on the other hand hid the infection from others as not to attract attention. So the infection as far as Hermione knows could be at its worst.

After making sure the Ex-Death Eater was alright and could be discharged when he woke up, Hermione walked back over to Draco, who was just waking up. She waved her wand to check his fever and found it about the same.

She sighed.

"You could have killed yourself, Draco."

Draco ignored her.

"Fine, be stubborn. I don't have to help you."

She turned around so Draco couldn't see the hurt on her face. She had thought they were becoming friends, forgetting the past and beginning to trust each other a bit more. Clearly she was wrong.

"Granger..."

Something in the healer part of her told her something else was wrong. And she could be mad at him later. As Hermione turned around she heard coughing. She looked at Draco and realized the coughing was him. She helped him sit up and gently patted his back. Then she realized something, in mere seconds he had started coughing up blood. After he finished she helped him lay back down.

"Draco, how long has your arm been bothering you?"

"Couple weeks."

"And no one has noticed anything?"  
Draco shook his head.

"The other healers won't say it but most still don't like me."

"After 6 years they can't forgive you? I know you say you're used to it, but that's awful."

"Four years ago you wouldn't say that."

"Four years ago I didn't even like the idea of working with you. I warmed up to it plus if I didn't you'd be in a tough position now."

Draco nodded. Hermione waved her wand over him again and looked at the results on the paper. His fever had risen a bit but it still wasn't dangerous, she summed another fever reducer and gave it to him. He drank it. Hermione took the vial back and set it on the table.

"I sent an owl to the head so that they know you won't be working for a while. But other than them we are the only ones that knows what happening. You're not the only one it's happening to, though yours is the worse so far."

Draco nodded and then gave her a confused look.

"An ex-death eater was brought in with the same symptoms. It looks like it's an infection though your strand seems to be an anti-potion one which means I may have to use muggle medicine."

"Is this your subtle way of telling me I'm going to die"

"No you big jerk, you're not going to die not if I can help it."

"Never were one to give up are you Granger. And before you start no I don't plan to."

Despite trying to stop it, Draco yawned.

"You should get some rest, just hit the button on the right side of the bed and it will let me know if you need anything."

Draco nodded and before Hermione left, he was asleep. Hermione left the room and noticed the bed that the Ex-Death Eater had occupied was empty. Hermione then decided to get find the equipment she would need to help Draco. She also wondered if a muggle hospital would work better. He probably wouldn't like it but it would have the equipment she needed and there would be almost no magic around to interfere with the machines. It didn't take her long to realize that was better than keeping him here where none of the potions were helping. Hermione had studied muggle medicine as well as wizard remedies so she knew what to use and she could put spells on the room they would use so that there wouldn't be a problem. She headed back to Draco's room.

Hermione entered the room and noticed Draco was awake.

"I have a better way to help you but you might not like it."

"Why is that?"

"Because it would mean going to a muggle hospital. Before you answer, Draco, I can help you better there. Potions aren't helping much and St Mungo's doesn't have the same equipment a hospital has. I studied to be a healer and a Doctor so I know what to use to help you."

"No."

"Do you remember where refusing my help got you last time, stop being so pig headed."

Draco was about to argue her but was thrown into a coughing fit. When it ended Hermione noticed something alarming.

"Draco, I'm not taking no as an answer if I don't apparate us to a hospital, NOW, there won't be anyone left to argue with."

Hermione lifted her hand so Draco could see it had blood on it.

"The infection might have spread to your lungs, who knows what else it might spread to. I can't use a spell to see the damage, I need an X-ray machine.

"A what?"

"It's a machine that muggles use to see inside the bodies of sick and injured people without cutting them open or using magic."

He nodded. Hermione cleaned her hand off and looked at Draco. She apparated into a small white room with bright lights. Hermione looked around the room and noticed most of the equipment she would need was already in the room. She moved the portable X-ray machine and took the x-rays she needed. She put the x-rays on the screen and noticed the infection had spread to his lungs. She decided it would be best to start him on an IV drip of antibiotics. She turned the screen off and turned to look at Draco.

"The infection has spread to your lungs which means in order to try and keep it from spreading, I will have to put you on a muggle I.V. drip."

Hermione explained what it was in simpler terms for Draco to understand as she got it set up. She hung a bag of antibiotics, she didn't say anything but she hoped it worked. Since they hadn't dealt with this before she wasn't completely sure what would work and what wouldn't. She finished hooking him up to it and told him to get some rest, she was going to try and do some more research to be better prepared if they run into any more cases.

Draco fell asleep soon after she started looking for a cure incase the antibiotics weren't enough. Hermione spent the next few hours trying to come up with the cure. She had realized a while ago she wasn't going to find one in a book so she had resolved to coming up with one on her own. When the first antibiotic bag was empty she checked Draco's vitals noting that he was improving slowly but it was a start. She hung a new bag and noticed that he seemed to have some difficulty breathing. Hermione hooked his up to an oxygen mask to help him breathe easier then went back to her books. After a while of looking at the book she heard a faint pop behind and turned around to see Ginny.

"Ginny, what are you doing here?"

"Trying to find you, I was getting worried, you haven't been home in a few days."

"Sorry, I might have lost track of time. We ran into a bit of an emergency."

"I figured as much, why are you in a muggle hospital anyway?"  
"Ran into a few complications."

Ginny then looked at the figure on the bed and her eyes widened.

"Is that Draco?"

Hermione nodded, "It's kind of a long story, please don't tell Ron or Harry, there still not to fond of me working with him and if they found out I was helping him this whole time they might flip."

"Alright, I know you said it was a long story, but can you tell me what happened?"

"It seems like the Dark Lord put a curse that would affect those who wore the dark mark after he died. It acts just like an infection 'cept Draco showed no change after I cast the spell that should clear the infection."

Ginny nodded and looked over at Draco. Hermione, deciding since the treatment was working, she could catch up with Ginny for a while. They talked until Ginny had to return home. After she left Hermione checked on Draco. The antibiotics seemed to be doing their job in taking care of the infection. Hermione unwrapped the bandage and noticed the wound on his arm was beginning to heal. Which meant he was beginning to recover, and that the treatment was working.

Over the next few days Draco condition improved and Hermione was able to take him off of the oxygen treatment. Soon after that Draco woke up and looked at Hermione.

"How long was I out?"  
Hermione jumped not expecting him to be awake or to talk.

"'Bout a week"

He sighed but mumbled "Thank you."

"I'm a healer Draco it's what I do."

"But you didn't have to help me."

"That's what friends are for Draco."

That night Hermione apparated them both back to St Mungo's. She kept Draco hooked up to the I.V. just to make sure the infection was clear of his system. Over the next few days Draco's condition continued to improve. Hermione ended up going back to work the morning after they go back to St Mungo's so she checked on him at her lunch break. Since his fever had disappeared soon after the infection and his arm was healing well, Draco returned to work after Hermione had discharged him.

"Just so you know you have a long list of patients to see."

"Wonderful that's just what I need to hear."

"Hey, just don't overdue yourself trying to see them all."

"Can't make any promises. But I will try not to."

"That's better than a no. And if anything is wrong again, don't keep it to yourself, you don't have to anymore."

"That's going to take some getting used to."

"I'm sorry we never gave you a chance."

"Don't apologize, it wasn't your fault, I was blinded by the way my family raised me to believe that blood status actually meant something when it shouldn't."

"I have to get back to work. I'll see you around."

Draco changed into the clean clothes Hermione grabbed out of his office after she left, and headed up to his office. Draco started on some of the paper work that was sitting on his desk.

He started seeing patients again the next morning. He ended up only seeing half of the normal amount on patients because he was still recovering, but given that it wasn't from something contagious he made the decision to go back to work so he didn't get to far behind and make the patients that needed his help wait any longer than they already had. Not all his patients could be transferred to other healers.

"You shouldn't be working yet, you know."

Draco had taken an early break.

"I didn't want to get too backlogged. You know how it goes."

"If you don't take the time off then you're going to kill yourself and we can't have that."

"Gran-Hermione, I'm fine. There will be no one dying today."

"But you were never one to follow rules, so just take it easy and don't be so stubborn. "

"Can't have you seeing all the patients."


End file.
